3.2. Net tax collection

The net tax collection is the result of deducting from the gross tax collection the refunds actually made in the tax year and the adjustments with the Basque Country and Navarre. It responds, also to a cash basis, unlike other items such as recognised rights or taxes for the purpose of National Accounting.

In 2014, 174,987 million euros were collected, an increase of 3.6% over 2013 (6,140 million). In homogeneous terms (that is, correcting, among other elements, the different degree of execution of refunds in 2013 and 2014), the incomes showed the same growth, 3.6%.

In addition, this information is shown in Charts 14 and 15 of the Annex.

Table 14. Total net tax collection Graph nº 15. Trend in tax collected managed by the Tax Agency

Unlike previous years in which the principal role was performed by revenues deriving from regulatory changes, in 2014 the main cause of the growth of revenue was the increase in the number of tax bases after six consecutive years of declines. This recovery of tax bases began in the second half of 2013 and was consolidated throughout 2014 thanks to the improvement of family incomes and consumer spending. In the case of family incomes, positive rates were registered from the second quarter of 2014 as a result of job creation, the rise of sole entrepreneurs' incomes, the sustained growth of the mass of pensions and the increase in capital gains. In a negative sense, there is a notably poor evolution of income from capital .

With regard to expenditure, this improvement was reflected in a strong rise in end spending subject to VAT and the gradual recovery of energy consumption, especially petrol and diesel fuels, although in this case the positive evolution of physical consumptions was not transferred with the same intensity to the aggregate tax base due to the decrease in prices. Finally, the Corporation Tax base grew for the third consecutive year, although it must be recalled that in 2012 and 2013 the growth was basically due to the regulatory measures addressed to broadening the tax base, while in 2014 the increase of the tax base was determined by the positive evolution of profits.

This improved evolution of tax bases has been translated into an increase of income in all the tax items, with the sole exception of Corporation Tax. The largest growth was recorded in VAT (8.2%), linked to the rise of individual expenditure subject to the tax and the smaller refunds requested, particularly those corresponding to 2013. The larger volume of refunds is also explained by the results of other taxes such as Corporation Tax (gross revenue increased by 1.9%, but the large volume of requested refunds and the streamlining of its execution signified a decrease in net revenues), hydrocarbons (the refund of the "healthcare cent" explains the decrease of tax collection despite the 1% rise in gross revenue) and Non-Resident Income Tax (in gross terms it rose by 11.6%, but only 0.2% in net terms).

In Chart No. 16. Evolution of tax revenues and the aggregate tax base (Annex) , data is shown that completes the information.

Chart 16. Evolution of tax revenues and aggregate tax base (Annex)